Not everyone has been able to answer that question, but
everybody is talking about it, for sure.

Consulting: Have we gotten to the point whereclients are able to take advantage of the data ina meaningful way?

Amla: We absolutely have. General Motors announced
something with IBM where they talked about having
Watson in the dashboard of the car and picking up data
about the car, the driver, the location and making that
data available not only to General Motors but also the
partners of General Motors. Somebody needs to pick
up a prescription, for instance, and the car dashboard
facilitates that. Another example is the work we’re
doing with Sloan Kettering. IBM and Sloan Kettering
are working together to be able to bring intelligence
and data about cancer, diagnosis and treatment, for
instance, and share it with hospitals around the world.
So a hospital in China, Thailand or India, would be
able to tap into the power of Sloan Kettering. This
is very powerful, and that’s what I mean about IBM
being a place to make real impact.

Consulting: You’ve mentioned a few industries; whichsectors are you particularly excited about right now?

Amla: All of them. Take a sector like Media &
Entertainment, for instance. How will the overall fan
experience change as a result of an event organizer
having access to individualized and customizable data
for a specific fan? How does that change the experience
they can offer that one fan, or all fans. Then you can
look at a different sector, the federal government, and
find all kinds of uses when it comes to AI or machine
learning to detect threats in airports, for example. This
cognitive learning is everywhere—and everywhere we
look industries are being restructured and completely
transformed because of it.

Consulting: What excites you the most about theopportunity ahead of you?

Amla: What excites me is the permission IBM has,if you will, to go into organizations that are goingthrough these transformations and being able to tellthem that we can effect real change for them. In a lotof cases we are already running their systems, whichgives us access to be able to make the kind of impactI’ve never really seen before anywhere or anytime inmy career. Also, our own people are a huge part ofthat. We have top talent in the industry and we need tostay diligent. As I said, we are going through a hugetransformation. Can we get enough people with trulytransformational skills into the fold? We need thosepeople to serve clients and support our growth goals.

Consulting: What are your growth goals?

Amla: It’s difficult to share specifics about growth, but
what I would say is different industries are growing at
different rates from a services perspective. We are positioning ourselves to make sure that we take our share.
The other big goal we have is to make sure that IBM is
the employer of choice. This has to be the place where
the smartest people in the world, those looking to make
the biggest impact, want to work. That is a huge focus
for me right now and will be going forward.